I'm curious how a lens/camera like this would work. Any pictures out there?

"The world’s first studio system also included the most unusual camera. Alexander Wolcott patented a lensless camera on May 8, 1840, that was based on designs adopted by the scientific community for celestial telescopes. By replacing the lens with a highly polished concave mirror of speculum metal, Wolcott was able to create a faster camera suitable for portraiture."

http://notesonphotographs.eastmanhouse.org/index.php?title=Camera

Matthew Rusbarsky

10-26-2010, 10:18 AM

The plate was positioned where the secondary mirror would be in a reflector telescope.